The University College London has given the ASX-listed diagnostics firm a confidence boost.
Melbourne-based diagnostics company Cleo has signed on to a collaboration with the University College London to access over 2000 samples from the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening, the world’s largest ovarian cancer screening trial.
Cleo will use the samples to advance its diagnostic and screening programs.
Access to the collection is prioritised based on the potential impact, scientific merit and alignment with UKCTOCS objectives.
Allowing access demonstrates UCL’s confidence in Cleo’s potential to disrupt the ovarian cancer diagnosis landscape.
This is particularly significant considering a key finding of UKCTOCS was that current ovarian cancer screening tests did not reduce the number of deaths and could not be recommended in the general population.
Data collected using Cleo’s test will be independently analysed in partnership with UCL, providing unbiased validation of the company’s technology.
“The opportunity to collaborate with UCL and be granted access to the UKCTOCS biobank is an extraordinary endorsement of our technology and its potential impact,” said Cleo CEO Dr Richard Allman.
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“This biobank is one of the most prestigious and rigorously protected ovarian cancer resources in the world and not all applicants are granted access.
“To be selected reinforces the credibility and potential of our technology to become a globally adopted screening test.
“This collaboration will also support and progress Cleo’s staged execution strategy.
“Integrating UKCTOCS samples into our clinical studies will help to fast-track our development and regulatory pathways — in particular validation of our pre-surgical test, as well as advancing our longer-term goal to deliver an effective screening tool for early ovarian cancer detection.”
As part of the collaboration agreement, Cleo will use samples and data from the UKCTOCS biobank to conduct the following two clinical studies:
- Study 1: Pre-Surgical Market – evaluation of the ability of Cleo’s pre-surgical test to correctly discriminate a benign from malignant adnexal mass in a prospectively collected cohort; and
- Study 2: Screening Market – evaluation of Cleo’s technology to improve diagnostic lead time in an asymptomatic average risk population.